If they’ll only be seen for about 5 seconds, then it actually shouldn't be all that hard or expensive to mass-model unique individual cannon-fodder bots using a variation of the mix-and-match approach described here by Floro Dery:

5000 designs by Floro Dery

 

well seems like a good idea! but not sure how it translates in 3d cgi though.

 

Line art on a piece of 8.5 X 11 is completely different from 3D CGI models that are visible in slow motion on a movie/Imax screen.

 

yes, but the principle is exactly the same.

 

Exactly what they should've done. Mix and match heads, body parts and colours (maybe even modify the heads a little for different ones), and you've got a ton of bots ready to go. Not only that, all of them are individuals.

 

Not even close. An artist with a blog drawing bots in his/her free time on paper costs significantly less than the top tier talent at ILM working with the latest 3D CGI computers. All of those man hours add up. Why waste any of the budget on bots that will only be seen on-screen for a few seconds.

 

Query: Is there a download-able of the trailer?

I want a better look at those ships.

 

Yes. Go to trailers.apple.com, I downloaded the QT version in 1080p.

 

The question they should be asking is why waste all that expensive rendering power on something that might confuse the audience. Don't say oh they'll never notice, because you'd be surprised.

And in fact they already do re-use a library of pre-built parts to add detail the figures in the movies. If anything it's far easier to create duplicate limbs/body parts and change dimensions/colours/proportions when you're using a computer than when you have to hand draw things. You can even write scripts to generate them randomly. This sort of thing has been done before on other productions.

Now granted it's not so easy to do it if the scene requires the bot to transform, but a lot of scenes won't.

 

the trailer was amazing my jaw literally dropped when i watched the video i mean i am loving this movie already i will be seeing the midnight showing of this one. I love that lazerbeak is in this one or buzzsaw i mean just total chaos. i peed alittle not even going to lie

 

I didn't


YouTube - Transformers Dark of the Moon Superbowl Trailer(fixed)

which is why I got rid of it

 

Yeahhhh, no. These aren't Bionicle sets, you can't just pop the limbs off one and put them on a different body.

You're missing the point entirely, that's still a waste of budget when the vast majority of your funds are already dumped into new renders and animating what you already have built. Its more practical and time efficient to just re-use older models that're only getting at most a few split seconds of screen time anyway. Granted I can see how "wtf is Bonecrusher doing there?!" might confuse audience members, as that's exactly what somebody said during my first viewing of ROTF. Besides, Transformers sharing the same body isn't a new concept, we've been dealing with that shit since 1984.

 

Well I'm saying that isn't necessary. Of course you do have to justify how you spend the money, but I guarantee you there will be a lot of very expensive shit that will end up on the screen that will be far more questionable than doing this.

 

Welcome to Hollywood haha!